00:00And I think when he does hang up his boots, no matter how many trophies he gets at Bayern
00:03or whether or not he breaks Shearer's record in England, he will go down as an absolute all-time
00:08great, and I'm talking of any nation, an all-time great footballer.
00:11It's been a long time coming, but finally Harry Kane has his hands on a piece of silverware.
00:16Undoubtedly one of the finest strikers of his generation, just why has it taken him so long?
00:21And is this the start of an immensely successful period for the England captain?
00:25I'm Matt Froelich for 442, and this is the story of Harry Kane's first trophy.
00:33So if you're aware of Kane's ability, but maybe unaware of his career, the two don't necessarily
00:38match up, you may be asking yourself at this point, why on earth has it taken so long?
00:43Well, there's plenty of theories to look into, but the long and short of it is, is that he
00:46was playing in the Tottenham team where for one reason or another, the big games, the big
00:50moments just happened to pass him and the club by.
00:53Common schools of thought often ridicule him for not scoring in the semi-finals of the
00:57finals that he and the club found themselves in, or equally to put the blame at the doorstep
01:01of the club itself, with their recent history of not quite seizing the moment.
01:05But in the fairness of a balanced argument, there are two sides to this coin.
01:09The other side says that one player doesn't make a team, and sometimes you just have to
01:13admit when you've been beaten by a better opponent.
01:15For example, both Mo Salah and Thierry Henry have terrible records in finals, with just one
01:21goal and one assist each in nine and ten finals respectively, but they've been part of fantastic
01:26teams and as such, can proudly boast a full trophy cabinet.
01:29As for admitting the opposition are better, Spurs, with Kane, met the likes of Man City,
01:33Chelsea and Liverpool in their quest for glory over the last decade.
01:37Sides either notoriously difficult to beat, or riding the wave of the impossible turned
01:42possible like Leicester City.
01:43Still, to score so many goals in an underachieving Spurs side is nothing short of miraculous.
01:49You know, scoring that number of goals, I think there was a season three or four years
01:52ago where he scored the most Premier League goals and got the most assists in a single
01:56season.
01:57That right there is Ed McCambridge, our German-based 4-4-2 journalist, Bundesliga expert, and according
02:03to himself, not a bad football player either.
02:05Which is astonishing at Tottenham.
02:08I mean, it's all well and good doing it for Manchester City or Liverpool when they're getting
02:11nearly 100 points a season, but he was playing for a Tottenham team that often wasn't competing
02:16at the top end of the Premier League and he was consistently the best player in the league.
02:20One of the toughest leagues in the world, as we know.
02:23He scored similar numbers of goals to the likes of Benzema and Lewandowski, if not Ronaldo
02:28and Messi, but you know, certainly in that second category.
02:31With Kane's eventual move to Bayern last time at age 30, it seemed like he was escaping the
02:35judgment in the Premier League and was nailed on to win a trophy.
02:38Well, sort of.
02:40In fact, as luck would have it, and throwing back to what I mentioned about Kane finding
02:43himself in tough or improbable situations, his first season at Bayern Munich saw Bayer Leverkusen
02:48put together the Bundesliga's first ever unbeaten title victory.
02:52This freak incident aside though, a trophy did seem inevitable for him.
02:56Since he's joined the club, there's been a fair amount of banter, particularly from those
03:00in England, about the fact that it's taken him this long to actually win a trophy.
03:05I mean, this was supposed to be the banker.
03:06He was supposed to move straight to Bayern and finally break his silverware duck and get
03:10his hands on some trophies.
03:11And he didn't in his first season.
03:13So there's been a bit of banter around that.
03:15Obviously, that will go away now.
03:17But inside of Germany, from the get-go, it's been overwhelmingly positive.
03:21I mean, since the day he signed, fans and experts and pundits have been so excited that
03:27this world-class player in his prime has swapped the Premier League for a Bundesliga signed.
03:33Now, as England captain, playing in Germany, the old arch-rivals of English football, you'd
03:39think that Kane was in for a little bit of a frosty reception.
03:42But as Ed alluded to, they actually quite like him at Bayern Munich.
03:45And certainly this lack of winning mentality that he was accused of by some corners of
03:49the English media was way off the mark.
03:52Yeah, definitely.
03:53I mean, on the pitch, he's massively popular with his coaches, with his teammates.
03:56I mean, Thomas Tuchel, the coach who managed to lure him over from Tottenham, and also Vincent
04:02Kompany, his current coach, have talked about what a professional he is, the way he handles
04:06himself for training, the way he prepares for games.
04:09And the other leaders in the dressing room, the likes of Manuel Neuer, the club captain,
04:12Thomas Muller, who's leaving the club at the end of the season, and Joshua Kimmich,
04:16you know, the real leaders in that dressing room, have spoken about the character that
04:20he brings to the club.
04:22And, you know, he's talking about the sort of thing that Roy Keane likes to bang on about,
04:25you know, being in the trenches, being the man to rely upon when the chips are down.
04:29And he's produced in these big moments.
04:31And Manuel Neuer has spoken about this very English sense of humour that Kane has brought
04:36to the club.
04:37And he's got involved with all the classic cultural things that go on at Bayern, the wearing
04:41of the lederhosen at the Oktoberfest day.
04:43I know his children are very happy at school in Bavaria, and they're learning German.
04:48And if you, you know, don't forget that Bayern actually also brought over Eric Dier, who's,
04:54you know, a very good player.
04:55Let's not mug Eric Dier off.
04:56But he may not have got a move to Bayern if it wasn't for Harry Kane.
04:59So they've done basically everything they possibly can to accommodate him, the club and
05:03his teammates.
05:04And he is a hugely popular figure at Bayern, as well as a brilliant player.
05:08Now, getting on with your teammates is definitely an important factor in success.
05:11And it's something that Harry Kane needed to do if he was to surmount the insurmountable
05:15task, replacing Robert Lewandowski.
05:18The now Barcelona man scored an incredible 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern, winning absolutely
05:25everything there was to win multiple times.
05:27In fact, he left the club having won the league in all eight of his seasons there, including
05:31the treble in 2020.
05:32So the main aim for Kane was to bring a similar quantity of goals.
05:35But as has been clear throughout his career, there's more to him than meets the eye.
05:40His main objective was to replace the goals scored by Robert Lewandowski, which was never
05:45going to be easy.
05:45But he's done that to a large degree.
05:47And on top of that, he's added a certain level of creativity.
05:50I mean, he's hit double figures for assists in all competitions across both campaigns.
05:55And everyone at Bayern's really appreciate this range of passing that we know he had from
05:59Tottenham, his tendency to drop deep and bring out the best in others.
06:03Zane in particular has really benefited.
06:05But the other wingers as well, the likes of Kingsley Coman and Michael Alisse, who's
06:09had a brilliant first season at Bayern, they're all thriving thanks to Harry Kane's movement
06:14and his ability to bring others into play.
06:17And I think a lot of Bayern fans were really crushed when Robert Lewandowski left the club
06:22because obviously the amount of goals he scored.
06:23But there is a sense, I think, among the fan base that the current number nine is a better
06:28all-round player and he's bringing the best out of his teammates.
06:31A lot of Bayern's play was geared just towards Robert Lewandowski scoring goals when he was
06:36at the club.
06:37And now there's more of a share around and that's a lot to do with Kane.
06:40So with all the things that Kane can and has demonstrated on the pitch, the goal scoring,
06:44the creativity, the leadership, I'd be inclined to think he actually puts the big successes
06:48like the Champions League on his own shoulders as much as the fans and his teammates turn to
06:52him for inspiration.
06:54But as it turns out, this reliance on him as a central striker, the figurehead of the
06:58Bayern attack is nothing new to the club whatsoever.
07:01Well, Bayern, more so than almost any other club I can think of, have always relied massively
07:06on a single number nine.
07:08I mean, you know, they've had the likes of Lewandowski, obviously, Gerard Müller, the
07:12brilliant player in the 60s and 70s, Roy McKay, Giovanni Elba, Jürgen Klinsmann, Gomez,
07:17Mandzukic.
07:18They love this big, powerful number nine.
07:20So they're always going to rely heavily on Harry Kane in all their competitions.
07:24Next season, it'll be the exact same.
07:26They'll be relying on Kane to produce the goods, both in the league and in the Champions
07:30League and cup competitions.
07:32So much at Bayern is geared around getting their number nine to score goals.
07:36And so obviously, the success and failure of every season and every competition will
07:41largely rest on Harry Kane's shoulders.
07:43So let's throw a hypothetical out there.
07:45Harry Kane and Bayern Munich return to the top of German football with the league, the cup
07:48in the next few years, maybe even European football too, if they can win a Champions
07:52League.
07:53Does Harry Kane then stay and continue to win more and more and more trophies?
07:57Or is there the chance of a romantic return to the Premier League at some point?
08:01Well, I think there's always going to be talk of a return to England.
08:04That always happens with English players.
08:05You know, Jude Bellingham, will he come, you know, will he leave Real Madrid and come to
08:08the Premier League someday?
08:10Even more so in Harry Kane's case, because there is a sense that he's got this unfinished
08:14business in English football.
08:16He was pretty close to breaking Shearer's all-time Premier League goal-scoring record.
08:21It would still be within his grasp if he came back to England soon-ish.
08:25So that talk's never going to go away.
08:28In terms of leaving Bayern, I mean, the question I would ask is, why would you bother?
08:33Why would he leave?
08:34I mean, maybe he'll come back to the Premier League someday.
08:36But I mean, in the short term, over the next two or three seasons, what would be the
08:39point?
08:40I think, you know, he's a fit guy.
08:43He can probably carry on playing for another four or five years at the top level.
08:47And where better to play than Bayern Munich, where, like I say, success is almost guaranteed.
08:52Well, regardless of where Kane's future footballing success lies, one thing can't be taken away
08:56for him.
08:56The fact that now, at long last, he has got his hands on some silverware that an outstanding
09:02career has thoroughly deserved.
09:04That's all from me for today.
09:05Don't forget to hit that subscribe button for all of the content that myself and 442 have
09:09got coming out in the near future.
09:11But until then, I'll see you in the next video.
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